1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and systems in a computer system for skills-based testing and training and, in particular, to methods and systems for simulating an application such that an operator's skills can be tested or trained by interaction with the simulated application.
2. Background Information
As organizations become more global and physically distributed in their function and expertise and are searching for ways to improve processes or performance of personnel, the need for efficient training and testing tools increases. With technology in a constant state of flux, it becomes harder to measure the status of current skill level in an organization and harder to train personnel on new, ever-changing applications. Some organizations are striving to differentiate themselves by increasing the distribution of knowledge in an organization. Computer-assisted testing and training is one means to accomplish this task.
However, computer-assisted testing and training today is limited. Two approaches are currently utilized. The first approach involves testing and training with respect to an application by launching the application itself. There are multiple disadvantages to this approach including that the application must be appropriately licensed, and the testing or training is tied to a specific release of the product. Thus, the test or training scenario needs to be revised with each revision of an application. The second approach involves testing/training using “canned” (e.g., captured) images from the application. This allows tests and training situations to be developed that require a user to answer questions about what they are observing or what they already know. However, the results, especially as to training, are limited, because the user doesn't interact with the application.
In addition, the type of information gleaned with test takers and trainees using both of these approaches is typically limited to what is termed “knowledge-based” testing/training or “performance-based” testing/training. Specifically, a user (test taker or trainee) is typically judged on whether a question was answered right or wrong—that is, does the user have knowledge of a particular subject area. Similarly, if a user is compared with a predetermined set of answers (constituting, for example, a “level” of performance) or compared with other users, then the testing/training is considered “performance” based. In either case, performance or knowledge is based upon right or wrong answers.